2014: TEENAGE ARTIST TO HAVE EXHIBITION AT DUBLIN GALLERY. The Irish Times. February 26th, 2014
A 16-year-old self-taught artist who has been selling her celebrity portraits online as part of a transition-year project is to have an exhibition in Dublin.
Sarah Ryan from Barntown in Wexford, said last night she was over the moon with the response to her drawings of such celebrities as actress Jennifer Lawrence and former footballer David Beckam, who liked his portrait when she posted it online.
Broadcaster Ryan Tubridy is also among her fans after the student from Loreto secondary school in Wexford town emailed him at 2fm with a portrait. She was invited on to his radio programme, which aired yesterday, and caught the attention of Frank O’Dea, the owner of Balla Bán art gallery in the Westbury Mall, Dublin, who viewed her work online and then offered to display it in his gallery.
She has been selling prints of her celebrity portraits via Facebook since last September and her enterprise, Sarah Rose Illustrations, will be entered in the National Student Enterprise Awards this year.
It was her granny’s idea to send Tubridy a sketch of himself, she said.“She’s delighted with what’s happened.”